It is right above the Cat Café I took Girl to a few weekends back.
We checked it out.
Inappropriate I know.
But we had to.
Giggles all around.
Six In Seoul |
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It's a clothing store in Hondage.
It is right above the Cat Café I took Girl to a few weekends back. We checked it out. Inappropriate I know. But we had to. Giggles all around.
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I don't know why I don't have Caesar dressing made and ready to go at all times. This salad is a favorite of all 4 children. Yes, I said ALL FOUR CHILDREN. From ages 7-16. They all love it and they all had more than one serving last night. Boy 2 had at least 3 servings - I'm thinking possibly 4. True story. If that isn't enough to sell you on this salad, then there is no help for you. What you will need to make this happen: First of all you need a food processor. If you don't have one you could try a blender. It won't be as good as a food processor, but it will probably work. Let me know if you try it this way. For the Caesar Dressing you will need: 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese - it is so totally worth it to grate your own. 1/2 cup of fresh grated pecorino romano cheese - it is so totally worth it to grate your own. 1 2 oz package of anchovy filets (in oil) 3 TBL FRESH lemon juice (about 1 lemon) 4 garlic cloves 2 TBL Dijon mustard 3/4 cup + 2 TBL of good olive oil salt & fresh ground pepper to taste Put all ingredients EXCEPT olive oil and salt and pepper in food processor. Once all ingredients are in the food processor put the lid on and turn on - slowly add the olive oil while the food processor is running. Add salt and LOTS of fresh ground pepper to taste. Homemade Croutons: Of course you buy croutons as there are some really good ones on the market, but if you want an over the top Caesar Salad you really need to bite the bullet and make your own. Plus they are super easy and don't take much time at all. Preheat oven to 325 F 3 cups of sourdough bread cut into crouton size bites (really you can use almost any bread you like, I like a sourdough for my croutons) 4 TBL olive oil 4 garlic cloves minced 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme 2 tsp chopped fresh oregano 2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary Heat olive oil in a 12 inch skillet - add garlic, thyme, oregano and rosemary till fragrant. Add bread cubes to the mixture - toss around to coat. Put bread crumbs on cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper. Bake for 15-20 minutes until bread cubes are nice and golden. Bringing it all together: Put 1 or 2 heads of Romaine lettuce cut into bite size pieces (my family goes through 3!) in a large bowl. Toss with dressing, start with 3 or 4 tablespoons (you can always add more, but you can't take away!) When you have salad properly dressed, toss in croutons. Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. Grate fresh parmesan over the top. And you will have this: Options:
To make it a meal add grilled chicken or shrimp! YUM-O! No one tells you that once you hit 40 your once more than perfect eye sight starts to go. So when I pulled this recipe card out of my recipe box (yes, I still have one of those) and it looked like this: I knew it was time to update it. I'll save this card and pass it on to my children. They can throw it away when they choose to, but I think it is important to pass on handwritten recipes AND when they get to this card they will remember how well loved this recipe was....so much so they might just frame it, stains and all. :o) When Hubby took a bite of lasagna last night you could see him melt in his chair a little and said "This is the best lasagna EVER. Kids, you don't know how good you have it with your mom's cooking. When you move out and you have lasagna someplace other than home you are going to compare it to your moms lasagna and there will be no comparison. This is the best lasagna ever." I love it when Hubby raves about my cooking. It just makes me feel all warm and tingly all over. I'm hoping that when our children are grown and married that my cooking is one of the things that will bring our kids home every Sunday afternoon for linner - yes, linner. (A girl can dream....) Sausage & Prosciutto Lasagna 9 lasagna noodles cooked al dente Cheese filling: 15 oz ricotta cheese 1 1/2 cup fresh mozzarella diced (divided 1 cup - 1/2 cup) 1 1/4 cup smoked gouda cheese (divided 1 cup - 1/4 cup) 1 egg The Sauce: A drizzle or two of olive oil 1 16 oz package of Italian sausage (sweet, mild or hot...you choose, it is good with all, I used mild) 4 oz sliced and diced prosciutto 1 medium onion 1 cup mushrooms, sliced and diced 3 garlic cloves minced 2 tsp dried oregano a few sprinkles of crushed red pepper 2 TBL tomato paste 1 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes (San Marzano are the best) 16 fresh basil leaves chopped Salt & Pepper to taste The beautiful thing about this recipe is that you can make the sauce a day or two in advance. AND the sauce is good even if you are not making lasagna. For the sauce: Drizzle olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add sausage and sauté until browned - add chopped prosciutto. Transfer sausage mixture to a bowl. Using the same pan add another drizzle of olive oil to pan, toss in chopped onions, mushrooms, garlic, oregano & crushed red pepper. Sauté for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add tomato paste, tomatoes & basil. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add sausage mixture to the sauce. Season with salt & pepper. For cheese filling: Mix together ricotta, egg 1 cup of diced mozzarella, 1 cup smoked gouda. Season with salt & pepper. For the lasagna: Preheat oven to 350 Using a 9x13 glass dish Layer: 1 cup of tomato sauce on the bottom of the baking dish. 3 lasagna noodles 1/2 cheese mixture 1/2 the remaining tomato sauce 3 lasagna noodles remainder of cheese mixture remainder of tomato sauce mixture 3 lasagna noodle top with 1/2 cup of mozzarella & 1/4 cup of gouda. Bake covered for about 30 minutes, uncover and bake for another 10-15 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving. Devour.
**********NEW LOCATION as of 12/11/13 -- (I have not been there, just got this information from a friend & I do not have directions.) Seocho-gu Seocho-dong 1698-6 B1 (South gate of Acrovista and Sampoong Apts.) 서초구 서초동 1698-6 지하1층 It’s closed Mondays. Hours 10:30am-8:30pm and phone: 02-573-9607******************* Christmas break has been filled with snow and COLD! At first it was grand - snowmen, hot chocolate, snowball fights, more hot chocolate & more snowball fights! We had a white Christmas and we couldn't have been more happy. Then we had a white the day after Christmas, and the day after that, and the day after that and the day after that... You get the idea. Lots of white. Lots of cold. Snowmen weren't looking so exciting. Neither were snowball fights. These cold winters days turned into lots of inside time. Well this past Friday was the last day of winter break and I knew I needed to get the kids out of the house and head out on an adventure! Lucky for me (and the kids and my friends) I had found an article on this great little café a few weeks back - Norang, Coffee and Crafts! Coffee for the mom's and crafts for the kids - and if that isn't enough of a win, win.... get this.... The best part is that the mom's get to drink coffee while the STAFF of Norang helps the kids with their crafts! A mom's PARADISE at the end of winter break! How awesome is that?! There was only one tiny little problem. The directions. They sounded simple enough. I was the fearless leader. I can do this. No worries. 6 happy Mom's 13 happy kids - dressed and ready to hit subway. Long story short. We got lost. 6 frazzled Moms, 13 very unhappy kids wandering around in 18 degree weather for over 45 minutes. I was afraid at one point that the children were going to turn on me and have me for lunch. I kept saying 5 more minutes as I was fearful for my life. I think at one point one child started growling at me & I'm pretty sure I saw fangs. Thank God the owner of Norang took mercy on my soul and came where we were and guided us to the café. So before this gets too ugly, let me give you directions. Good directions. Take Exit No.4 at Maebong Station (Orange/Line #3 Track). Once you exit the subway TURN LEFT at the 1st intersection. Walk until the street dead ends (maybe 5 minutes). This is what it looks like: When you get to the end of the street TURN RIGHT. Walk about 30 seconds and you will see Norang on your right. It is that simple. This is what the outside of the café looks like: As soon as we arrived I ordered 13 hot chocolates. There was heat. There were crafts. And within minutes all was forgiven. There are rows and rows of shelves filled with crafts for the children to choose from - the cost was from 5,000 won - 25,000 won per craft and there are PLENTY to choose from! Once your child picks their craft, the staff is there to help oversee the crafting process and to help the children with whatever they need. They even have shirts to put on over their clothes to help the children stay clean. Of course Boy 1 didn't have time for the shirt and went straight to work! :o) I love these girls! When I told them to look up for a picture they told me to 'hold on a second' - and they proceeded to paint their hands for the picture! Their daily schedule. Notice anything odd? IT IS IN ENGLISH! Did I mention the owner of this cafe (Gina) speaks perfect English! She was so kind and helpful. The customer service was FANTASTIC! How cute is this little area? The kids are welcome to draw on the chalkboard and to color on/in the house. This a GREAT place to bring the kids! Boy 2 is considering having is birthday party here! They even have crafts to go! While the kids were happily crafting, the mom's were pretty happy themselves! I give this place 5 out of 5 stars! Everything about this place was great! The staff, the food, the crafts, the drinks! There is only ONE thing I would change, and that would be to add wine to their drink menu!
Remember this date night with Hubby? And how we went to dinner before the show? This night we actually ordered Piecef&boiled chiken for dinner. To my surprise it was delicious. However check out the wall to the side. Gordon Ramsey would have had a FIELD DAY in this restaurant. If I came across a place like this in the states I would leave immediately. But not here. Not in Korea. A few other things on the menu. And even more: The crazy thing about all of this?
I would totally go back! :o) OH BABY. About a week before the new year friends invited us over for a New Year's day for dinner - I offered to bring dessert. Well New Year's day was here, we were lounging around and time got away with me -- when I realized what time it was I had 1 hour and 30 minutes to whip something up (and take a shower)! My first thought was Chocolate Kahula Cake it's quick and easy - then I remembered I used all the Kahlua to make the fondue the night before - Hey but that's OK, I've accidently made the cake with no Kahlua before and it was still wonderful- but then I only had one cup of sour cream and no Greek yogurt to use as a substitute.... great - I'm screwed. Everything I was thinking of was going to take too much time, Hubby kept saying, "don't worry, we will stop and pick something up". Hello, does he even know who he is dealing with? Has he EVER known me to 'stop and pick something up'? I know, I know he was trying to be helpful, and then it hit me....Texas Sheet Cake! Oh baby! I haven't made this in ages and if I remember correctly it doesn't take much time at all! YES! SCORE! And THEN I couldn't find my recipe! I could have SWORN I shared it with you all before. I guess not...finally after about 30 seconds of searching (it seemed like longer because I was frantic) I found it (in my old school recipe box) AND I had all the ingredients on hand AND I was right, it doesn't take too long. In fact I'm thinking about making one for breakfast as soon as I finish writing this up. Texas Sheet Cake (you can thank the Pioneer Woman for this recipe!)
Preheat oven to 350. In a mixing bowl combine flour, sugar and salt. In a saucepan melt butter, as soon as butter is melted add cocoa & whisk together. Add boiling water to mixture and allow to boil for 30 seconds. Turn off heat and pour over flour mixture and combine. In a large measuring cup (at least 2 cup size) pour in the butter milk, eggs, baking soda & vanilla. Mix together. Add buttermilk mixture to the butter/chocolate mixture. Pour into sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes. Frosting: Melt butter in a saucepan - add cocoa - whisk to combine - once combined turn off heat. Add milk, vanilla and powdered sugar. Stir together until well combined. Add pecans at this point if you choose to. When cake is done pour frosting over warm cake. Eat warm, or not. Either way will be beyond happy. With a nice tall glass of milk is even better. Try to stop at one piece. Remember it has 3 & 3/4 sticks of butter in it. If you can't stop, just run an extra mile or two. I had to run an extra 5 miles. The cake was a huge hit and we were only 10 minutes late. :o)
And yes, I was showered. Traditions. Funny thing, I don't even remember how we started this tradition or how long we have been doing it. The thing with traditions: As you all know we are a military family. We move on average every two years. Things rarely stay the same for us. New house. New friends. New schools. New jobs. New playgrounds. New pets. New restaurants. New grocery stores. And that just scratches the surface. This, my friends, is one of reasons behind my madness. So many things in our lives change so often that I need and want stability for our kids, my husband and myself. Even with all the change in our lives there are so many things that stay the same and there are many areas where I can help create that stability: The 'guts' of our house - even when we can't take all of our worldly things with us we take as many things as possible to help create that "we are home" feeling. Our true friends. We may make new friends everywhere we go, but we also keep in contact with those we have met over the years. Thank goodness for Skype, Facebook and Kakao! :o) And traditions. Traditions are a huge part of that stability. Even though I may not remember when, where or why we created a tradition, it is something that doesn't change in this crazy life we live. New Year's Eve Fondue! As we were sitting around the fondue pot this New Years eve the kids mentioned how every year we invite someone to join us for fondue. We reminisced about Austin....Austin was Boy 1's BFF in elementary school/Junior high and how he spent a couple of years around our fondue pot ringing in the new year with us. Girl's friend Lauren, who now lives in Spain is now bugging her mom about start this tradition in their own home. Connor, Boy 1's BFF from the past 2 years in Texas hung out doing fondue with us last year. This year was Boy 1's girlfriend. How awesome is that? Tradition. As we were dipping our bread in the cheese fondue Boy 1 said. "The cheese fondue is my favorite."
Reminder: Cheese coming out of the fondue pot is HOT. Don't burn your mouth. One of the cool things about living in Seoul is that on NYE morning you can run to the fish market to pick up fresh shrimp for fondue. The uncool thing is that I have to remove the heads. As we were cooking our meat Boy 1 said. "The meat fondue is my favorite."
Fill fondue pot about 1/2 full of peanut oil. Heat on high until peanut oil reaches a temperature 350 - 375. To cook food stab with fondue fork and put in oil. Cooking time depends on what you are cooking. Shrimp takes the least amount of time depending on the size of the shrimp. This is where you will need to experiment. Chicken & pork need to be cooked all the way through - steak can be cooked rare - well done depending on your preference. You can dip shrimp and chicken in Tempura if you so choose. Feel free to marinate your meats or leave them as is before cooking. I marinate our steak in Soy Sauce and Montreal Steak Seasoning. I add salt and pepper to the chicken. This is actually my FAVORITE thing to eat during the entire fondue experience: Stuffed mushrooms: What you will need for stuffed mushrooms: Large mushroom caps 1 brick of cream cheese 1/4 cup of chives Tempura Batter. Mix cream cheese and chives together in a bowl. Fill mushroom cap with mixture. Stick fondue fork through the cap in the meaty part of the mushroom. Dip in tempura, covering ALL AREAS. Make sure everything is covered in tempura batter or your oil will pop! Put in oil and cook until golden brown. My mouth is watering just looking at this picture. Something new we tried this year was stuffed jalapenos wrapped in bacon. That's right, I said bacon. Mmmmm. Stuffed Jalapenos: Large jalapenos bacon cream cheese and chive mixture (use the same as the mushrooms) shrimp tempura batter Cut the top off the jalapeno Slice one side of the jalapeno, keeping it attached Deseed Put some of the cream cheese/chive mixture on once side of the jalapeno Put a shrimp on the other size Squeeze the jalapeno back together and wrap with a piece of bacon Stab with fondue fork & dip in tempura batter, again making sure to cover EVERY AREA!! Put in fondue pot and cook until a deep golden brown. Hello beautiful. A few important thing you need to know about the meat course. - Have separate plates for uncooked and cooked meats. - NEVER let the uncooked meat touch your cooked meat plate. -Do NOT touch uncooked meat with your hands. - Do NOT eat off fondue fork. You are sure to burn yourself. - Place cooked meat on your 'cooked meat plate' and eat with a fork. Fondue Rule: The only rule in fondue is that if you lose something in the fondue pan during ANY course you must kiss someone of the opposite sex at the table. Dessert Fondue. The last course. Can you guess what Boy 1 said before this course?
Melt both types of fondue in fondue pot on low heat stir until smooth. Things for dipping: Strawberries Bananas Pound Cake Cheese Cake Blueberries Raspberries Marshmallows Pretzels Really anything that taste good dipped in chocolate. Vote on which flavor you like better. In this house we are 3 for dark, 4 for white. Fondue starts in our house anytime after noon on New Years Eve. In between courses we play games, watch movies and just hang out. 5 minutes before the new year we open the sparkling cider! This year we had sparkling grape and cherry. As a reminder to myself: Don't ever buy cherry again. Ringing in the New Year!
Goodbye 2012, Hello 2013! |
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you
did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” ― Maya Angelou AuthorHi, I'm Trish, the writer, creator and photographer of this blog. I started this blog for 2 reasons, 1 - When I found out we were moving to Korea back in 2008 I was a little freaked out and started scouring the internet for information on Korea. At that time there wasn't much out there so I am doing my part in helping families across the world not be so freaked out when it comes time to move to Korea. The 2nd reason I started this blog was to help stay connected to family members back in the states. Today it is so much more that. Are you moving to Korea? Do you have questions, concerns? Are you freaking out? Freak out no further - click the button to ask a question. I'll do my best to answer open and honestly.
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